Passover continued

Now...

That morning we were planning to meet up with an old friend who moved to Atlanta. The Atlanta temple had an open house during that week, as a precursor to its rededication. We had planned to quietly sneek away and visit with her.

However, after I confessed tony cousin that we were members of the CoJCoLDS, I couldn't help but add that there was an open house in the local temple for that entire week and that this would be a very rare opportunity to visit a place outsiders can't enter after the dedication.

I suggested he visit there if he had the chance and added that we were headed that way ourselves. To my surprise, he suggested he join us for the open house.

It was great. We had a great time with our friend, who almost collapsed when she heard my wife was called as RSP, and my cousin got a glimpse into the Temple.

I must confess that I had been warned, but did not understand the message... What do I mean? Observe:

As I was thinking and praying about the trip (prior to deciding to go), I got a strong prompting that I should go and I should keep myself open for a new opportunity. Silly me thought it was related to a job opportunity. Now I know it was an opportunity to share the Gospel.

I know my cousin is a man who knows and does choose the right. I know he qualifies as a Saint in all but his faith in the path of our Savior. All I can do is praise the man, and praise God for allowing us to reconnect in such a wonderful fashion.

TOTD: We each choose a path, and even wrong choices can show us the right path.

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Passover trip

A couple of months ago, I was surprised by a phone call from a distant cousin. My third cousin on my mother's side, to be exact... We have practically lost touch for the past 7 years, and I only met him a couple of times prior.

He was calling to reconnect with my parents and getting some input from them, as part of planning for a trip to Poland.

It was great talking with him, and I soon found out he and his other 2 brothers now live in the Atlanta, GA area.

By and by, my wife and I decided it would be good to use the kid's spring break to travel to Atlanta for a family visit. Once my cousins heard this, they immediately invited us to join in on the Passover Seder. The timing correlated perfectly.

We decided to drive from MA. I will skip the hassle of describing the roads, the traffic, the weather and the construction... Enough to say that we had one day that in the 5 hours we were on the road, we managed to get through 150 miles...

One thing that was exciting was that in the DC area, as we came round the bend in the road, the DC Temple came floating at us out of the mist. We could not avoid from stopping and entering the visitors' center.

We had agreed, out of respect, that we will not mention our LDS connection. We also instructed the kids to focus on the Passover story, rather than any other.

The oldest brother, who was managing the show is a very deep diving person. He pulled various stories and commentaries on the whole Exodus storyline, and was planning a very thought provoking evening. I had to request he lowers the bar a little, since our kids are somewhat behind.

Despite this, the evening was wonderful. We discussed and lot and our kids participated more than I expected.

One of his comments revolved around the meaning of "Mitzvah", and about the fact that, according to Jewish tradition, it is both a duty and a privilege. He mentioned "Good deeds", to which I countered with my preferred phrase: "Acts of Service". Unbeknownst to me, thus phrase drew the attention of the youngest brother. Since we were staying at his house, he sought me out later that night, to ask me more about my philosophy of life.

We ended up revisiting the topic the following night and talking for over 3 hours. He told me about his perspective, and I about mine. His life philosophy rotates very much around Service, but not due to any theological reasons, but simply due to good conscience drive. I, in turn, shared as much of the plan of salvation as I could, without mentioning Jesus Christ.

When I finally hit the hey that night, as I was going through my bedtime prayer, it became clear that I should come clean. So, in the morning, despite hesitations, I followed the inspiration of the spirit. I mentioned that if he wanted to know about an organization that is world renowned for its service projects, he should check out the LDS church. I added that we are members, and that when he reviews our conversation from the previous night and finds holes in the theory - he can fill those holes with Jesus Christ.

To be continued in the next post...

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